Customer Reviews

My Life with Albertine (2003 Original Off-Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a great fan of Broadway music in general, but most particularly of the more artistic (as opposed to commercial) composers, such as the new generation of artists know as the "Post-Sondheim Composers," which include Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown, Michael John La Chiusa and Ricky Ian Gordon. I came to know and very much enjoy Gordon's work with the CD BRIGHT EYED JOY, and if you're looking for an introduction to his music I'd suggest starting there rather than with this CD.

MY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE is the first musical by Gordon I've heard. The singing is good, not stellar, but enjoyable. There are a few songs here that I love to listen to, including the lovely soprano ballads "Is It Too Late?" (reprised by the tenor lead) and "If It Is True." There are a few songs, such as the more odd/perky "Ferret Song," that I find a bit annoying. A lot of the music takes on more a narrative tone, making them less self-contained out of the context of the score. While I enjoy music from Broadway show because it tells a story, I still think that a really great song should be able to stand alone, yet be enhanced within the context of the story, and such is not always the case here. However, one piece that is particularly impressive is "The Letters" in which friends of the lovers advise them what to write to one another. It's one of those great ensemble songs that has everyone singing over one another (think Sondheim's "Now Later Soon" from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC).

Overall, I think this is an interesting CD for those who are great collectors of musical theater as a whole and enjoy discovering obscure productions or up-and-coming composers. But for the average Broadway listener whose tastes run to Andrew Lloyd Webber or Disney musicals, this might not appeal as much.

"My Life with Albertine" is about a man who tries in old age to make sense of a tragic first love affair. As he takes us through the story, we see Albertine and Marcel (the Narrator as a young man) mature to the point that their love becomes stronger than their need to retain control within the relationship. The musical deals with the difficulty of creating a real bond with another person when you can never really know who they are or what they are thinking. How do you bridge that gap? Composer Ricky Ian Gordon bridges it with melodies whose broad arching lines express the passionate longing we are all born with: to connect with, to love another human being. The long vocal line is one of the important unifying elements in this gorgeous score.

Because Marcel sees Albertine only through the lens of his own need and desire, he is unable to grasp the whole person behind her apparently inconsistent behavior ("The Different Albertines"). That there is a unified person behind the changing appearances is indicated by the descending minor third Gordon uses whenever her name is sung. Albertine may be a mystery to Marcel, but the songs Gordon gives her to sing help us recognize her `transformations' as natural stages in her development from child to mature woman. The first of these is represented by the "Ferret Song." On the surface this is a simple and charming children's chant, but the slightly dissonant accompaniment suggests that Albertine is self-consciously prolonging her last days of childhood innocence. In "My Soul Weeps," Albertine tries to share with Marcel the adolescent melancholy that distresses her (again the long arching vocal line), but all Marcel can do is try to kiss her, to her great disgust. Some months later, having apparently been initiated into [intercourse] in the interim, Albertine sleeps with Marcel. Having had what he wanted, he discards her. Disappointed in Marcel, Albertine tries forging connections with women, transforming "My Soul Weeps" into a desperate tango.

When Albertine and Marcel once again try to live together they find it difficult to reveal their true feelings to each other ("What [I] think is, don't hurt me, don't leave me, don't lie to me, but what I say is, kiss me"). The audience can recognize Albertine's growing cynicism when she sings the raucous "I Need Me a Girl" (the men and women she describes all "need" a girl but treat that girl as a thing), but Marcel reacts by locking her up in his Paris apartment. Soon the lovers are unable to say anything at all (reprise of "But What I Say"), leaving Marcel to be consumed by his own jealous imaginings. At last, unable to tolerate Marcel's suspicion and possessiveness, Albertine runs away from him. In her farewell letter, she tells him that she leaves him her "best part, my heart," but he is unable to recognize the truth of that. In his sexual jealousy, Marcel initiates an escalating battle of words ("The Letters") that ends only when they both realize that being apart is more painful than the sacrifices they must make to stay together. Marcel at last gives up his claim of ownership ("I beg you to come home. I make no conditions"), while Albertine gives up her autonomy ("whatever you decide, I shall abide by your decision"). But before Albertine can return to him, she is killed in a fall from her horse.

"Albertine's Last Letter" reaches Marcel just after the news of her death. This song is sung by Albertine when the musical opens and again toward the end by the Narrator and it is typical of both the skill and the depth of feeling that Ricky Ian Gordon brings to this work. The characteristic arching vocal line for the opening words "Is it too late for me to return to you?" extends for a full measure longer than one expects it to, suggesting Albertine's willingness to go the extra mile to bridge the gap between herself and Marcel. Throughout the song, the orchestration expresses her changing emotions so clearly that they seem to be living in the listener's own heart. We hear both her hope and longing and also her nervous fear as she steels herself for possible rejection right through to the wonderful diminished triad that ends the voice line, creating a painful sense of uncertainty even while the harmonies underneath are trying to resolve it.

The songs mentioned above are primarily those that mark Albertine's development. Others represent the various settings: the seaside resort where the lovers first meet ("Balbec by the Sea," which sounds as if it was inspired by Poulenc at his most frivolous), drawing room society in Paris ("Talk about the Weather")¸ and the bordello demi-monde of Albertine's lesbian friends ("I Want You"). But best of all is Gordon's contribution to the centuries-old tradition of songs based on street vendors' cries in which Marcel imagines Albertine's name being cried out, like the artichokes and periwinkles, as if she too were for sale on "The Street."

"My Life with Albertine" is not for people who prefer simple stories and melodies on the lines of Kum ba yah. But it repays repeated and thoughtful listening with some of the most subtle and satisfying delights that musical story-telling can deliver.

I rarely make decisions about whether or not to see a show or a movie, read a book or listen to a CD based on critical response, but sadly, I made one fatal error-I skipped "My Life with Albertine", Ricky Ian Gordon and Richard Nelson's beautiful adaptation of the Albertine sections of Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past" at Playwright's Horizon, simply because it got mostly negative reviews. To this day, almost two years later, I kick myself every time I listen to the cast album.

Brent Carver is chilling as Proust, and Chad Kimball is very good as Young Marcel. Kelli O'Hara is a real find as Albertine. Her "If It Is True" is one of the best musical theatre compositions this side of Sondheim. Uberdiva Emily Skinner stuns as Mlle. Lea, a sassy lesbian chanteuse. Ever since we saw "Side Show" in 1997, I've had a major crush on her, and my wife has hated her guts (just kidding!). The rest of the cast is also splendid.

As the title of my review suggests, I agree 100% with Eric Glover, soon to be musical theatre critic extraordinaire. Anybody who can't see the beauty in this marvelous show is not only deaf, but blind.

With a remarkable French flavor MY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE has taken a major stride in the history of musical theatre! No other composer can take unexpressable/unexplainable human nuances and have them expressed through the music like Ricky Ian Gordon. The music strikes a particular mood within the listener so much that you feel what the character is feeling. There is a breath of Poulenc in this musical. There is a hint of the "benal" feeling in this music. With these feelings we experience the narrators memories and how he feels about this particular point in his life. Unspoken most of time, we all have this type of association with certain memories. Together Richard Nelson and Ricky Ian Gordon have brought out a true human experience. This is something that is very tangible from the cd. One particular thing I like about this is the range of emotions that this piece covers. It's a wonderful example of the pain often associated in love, learning, and moving on. This musical goes beyond Sunday in the Park With George(probably the greatest musical of all time)because it deals MORE directly with the issues, rather than dance around them. IF IT IS TRUE is a reminder of the scene in SUNDAY when Dot returns and sings MOVE ON--leaving a lesson. It can only be the work of a genius to put an unbelievably beautiful song (IF IT IS TRUE) at the very end of this musical, which is where it should be. It WOULDN'T work anywhere else-it would in fact create a disaster with the beautiful "line" that is there now. There could be no perfect place for this, and like Sunday in the Park With George ALBERTINE gives us a bittersweet closing showing the result of a journey.
The songs are beautiful, the orchestrations are brilliant, the lyrics are genuine, and the story is brilliantly haunting. This musical proves my thoughts that Ricky Ian Gordon is a composer for the people. He is someone who cannot be compared to other composers-he stands alone. His brilliance and uniqueness should prove to the people that THIS IS WHERE THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE SHOULD BE GOING!!!!
Bravo!

This wasn't a commercial sucess, in fact few people have heard of it. While it's not for everyone Ricky Ian Gordon's musical based on sections of Proust's "Rememberence of Things Past" is a hidden gem especially for fans of Sondheim's "Sundays In the Park With George". Like "Sundays", "Albertine" is about the relationship between the artist and the muse. In this case an older Proust recalling his early love affair with the enigmatic Albertine. Marcel's relationship with Albertine is revealed as a play within a play as his older self looks on.

Most of the musical numbers have a sense of sadness and longing to them as a reflection of fact that Marcel and Albertine never make a connection in life: it is in art, and in Proust's rememberece that the connection exists. But songs such as "The Different Albertines", "Lullaby", or "Talk About the Weather" have a deep sadness and a grasping quality while the more upbeat numbers like "Balbac By the Sea" and "The Ferret Song" have an almost mocking quality.

Kelli O'Hara is wonderful as Albertine, a character whom we only see through the eyes of Marcel. As a result there is something ephemeral about her- we never see the real Albertine only the different ideas that Marcel has about who she is. O'Hara's clear soprano reveals the girlish Albertine, the sensous libertine, and the confused woman. Many people will know O'Hara as Clara in the OBC of "The Light in the Piazza". We hear shades of Clara's innocence and childishness in the early Albertine, but then the prism shifts and we see a different Albertine and a different aspect of O'Hara's performance.

If your tastes run strictly towards big splashy commercial musicals (which I enjoy as well)this is not for you. But if you're one of those people who constantly complains that there is nothing new in theater, this is for you.

I first discovered Ricky Ian Gordon's music through his art songs in college: "I Never Knew" from the AIDS QUILT SONGBOOK and the brilliant BRIGHT-EYED JOY CD. Immediately it was clear to me that I had discovered for myself a brilliant American composer of huge poetic magnitudes. I was fortunate to be in New York during the run of ALBERTINE at Playwright's Horizon. Finally a musical has appeared that is brave enough to tackle the terrible truths of romantic love. The piece was incredibly affecting in the theater, intimate and lyrical like a foreign film. The authors were wise to take on only part of Proust in this adaptation--his most tragic of view of romantic love as a perplexing jealousy that serves only to intensify one's solitude. Proust's vision of art and time are given its due by having Marcel himself retelling the episodes leading up to Albertine's death. We learn to understand that Marcel is involuntarily recreating his impressions of her in this imagination; he is hoping to draw the one true Albertine out from among the enigma she truly was. In the final moments Proust says, "She fertilized me throught unhappiness." I recalled how the painting at the end of SUNDAY was made possible through the pain of lover's not able to connect duuring their live's. But in ALBERTINE the loss is greater; the stage is not crowded with figures from a painting, and there no confirmation that art was possible because a connection had occured in at least one moment. Here art is born from the abscence of connection. And the desire to connect finally with the dead becomes only a wound we inflict on ourselves. Gordon's score is so beautiful(and fittingly French)that the pain of these discoveries is actualy welcomed--at least by me and the group of us that were ecstatic to get our minds around this experience after the peformance. I am quite thankful for this recording, which I dare to call perfect: the singing is even better than the performance I saw and the outstanding orchestrations can be savored.

I am a big fan of the so-called "saviours of musical theatre" or Post-Sondheimian or modern musical or whatever you call them composers like Michael John LaChiusa, Jason Robert Brown, Jeanine Tesori, Andrew Lippa and my all-time favourite, Adam Guettel, whom I worship. But on my constant search for these composers, I found Ricky Ian Gordon here on amazon.com and I listened to the 30-minute song previews of Bright Eyed Joy and just from hearing those little sections, I knew I had to get one of his CDs. I couldn't get my hands on Bright Eyed Joy but I grabbed My Life With Albertine instead and I'm sooooooo glad I did. However, I must say for anyone considering this purchase that this score is not for everyone. At first, I was a bit unsure but after a few more times listening to it over and over, I was able to appreciate and adore it. But in no way do I think this musical is for anyone who loves the common showtune crap that has plagued Broadway for decades (ex. Andrew Lloyd Webber...yuck!). But for others, Gordon is an amazing, unique and intricate composer that creates melodies that stick in my head all day long. Also, I really enjoy the amazing performances on this CD like Kelli O'Hara, Brent Carver, Chad Kimball, Donna Lynne Champlin (I love her lullaby) and my favourite, Emily Skinner's I Want You is in a word, awesome. Gordon offers some interesting songs such as Balbec-by-the-Sea which almost seems like a mockery of cheesy showtunes with the except of the dream-like segment, "Purple light beneath a curtain". As well as the charming Ferret Song, the beautiful But What I Say and Carver's wonderful Song of Solitude. While, I Need Me a Girl and The Street remind me of Oliver's Oom-Pah Pah and Who Will Buy?. And who could forget the powerful exchange within The Letters. I will cherish this score and I really really really hope Gordon writes another musical for our listening pleasure!

Two words of advice:
Buy it!
Three more words of advice:
Listen to it!
One last word of advice:
Repeatedly!
For anyone who longs for a fresh, intelligent, complex musical theater CD - here it is. For those of you who don't have the time to read Proust (and who does?) this CD will provide the experience of all the drama, love and passion of the Playwright's Horizon production of My Life with Albertine - the Ricky Ian Gordon/Richard Nelson brave and elegant musical based on a section of Marcel Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past". The masterful voice of the brilliant Tony Award winning Brent Carver singing the sublime, philosophical "Song of Solitude" is alone worth the reasonable price of the CD. There is also astonishing Kelli O'Hara as the heartbreaking female lead singing "If It Is True". Not to mention powerhouse Emily Skinner singing "I Want You", or Chad Kimball and Brent Carver singing "Sometimes". Special mention also to the supporting cast - especially Donna Lynne Champlin singing "Lullabye" and Brooke Sunny Moriber included in "Ferret Song.
The fascinating, haunting music of Ricky Ian Gordon is life changing. The lyrics of Ricky Ian Gordon and Richard Nelson are true to the romantic heart of Proust's tragic love story.
If you want to know the future of musical theater - this is it.
Bravo also to Tommy Krasker's production of this CD and Charles Prince's musical direction.

Wow! This cd is such a treasure! I wish I had seen the show. This is a great recording, with some nice storytelling worked into it. The score is so romantic, rich, very french-sounding, and the voices are just amazing. It took me a minute on the first time listening but now i have it on repeat in my player. I got chills so many times!

I have savored every track of this recording several times and with each listening find something new to marvel at. That Gordon's glorious, broad, and supremely orchestrated score is a joy for these artists to sing is clear from their inspired performances (Emily Skinner's lustful solo plumbs the depths of carnal longing like nothing I've ever heard, and Kelli O'Hara's sweet and soaring soprano is heartbreaking). How refreshing to find a work so original and inspiring!